Fifteen Drabbles for Fifteen Pairings: Matched
by aimmyarrowshigh
Summary: Written for the "15pairings" challenge on LiveJournal. Fifteen drabbles for fifteen Matched pairings, both romantic and platonic. A drabble is a 100-word fanfiction with a beginning, middle, and end constrained in that word limit.
1. 001, Be Careful, Cassia, Xander

**Author**: **aimmyarrowshigh**  
**Fandom**: _Matched_, Ally Condie  
**Story Title**: "**15pairings**, Theme Set #006"  
**Character/Relationships**: Cassia/Xander, Cassia/Ky, Xander/Cassia/Ky, Lea/Joseph, Piper/Xander, Em/Dalen, Grandfather/Grandmother, Official+Ky, Em/Piper, Norah+Cassia, Lea/Piper, Xander/Ky, Ky/Livy, Patrick/Aida, Em+Cassia  
**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 1,500  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything. All characters, settings, and proprietary language are owned by the author of the work from which this is derived.  
**Notes**: Written for **15pairings**, Theme Set #006

******15pairings**, Theme Set #006

**001. Be Careful {Xander/Cassia}**

He wanted to do more than give her a handful of stolen blue pills and wish her on her way. He wanted –

What Xander Thomas Carrow wanted was not to give Cassia the tools she needed to find and choose and be with someone else; he wanted to prove to her that he was the one who cared enough to help her, who was willing to let her find her own peace and make her own choices, that he was strong enough to give her freedom and _right_ enough to believe that she would return, in the end, for him.


	2. 002, Secrets, Lea, Joseph

**002. Secrets {Lea/Joseph}**

Lea Abbey and Joseph Peterson had both applied to be Singles. Their hormone scans and the brain activity reports of their dreams spelled out exactly why. _That_ was not allowed in The Society. It had no reproductive value. It was not a statistical probability. It was, in short, why the title of Single existed at all.

But Lea Abbey and Joseph Peterson had exemplary genes… otherwise. Both were tall, attractive, and of good temperament, prone to athleticism and resistant to illness.

So they were Matched anyway, and they would procreate, and The Society would flourish. They would keep their secrets.


	3. 003, First Kiss, Piper, Xander

**003. First Kiss {Piper/Xander}**

When the youngest generation of Mapletree Borough – back then called Stony Borough – turned twelve, they learned about kissing games. It felt like a secret rebellion at the time; a way to choose your own 'first' something even though The Society got to choose everything else. It never occurred to any of them, except Ky, and later Xander, and years later, Cassia, that they learned about the kissing games from a whisper in the walls of the Second School that must have come from the Officials themselves.

But Piper always _felt_ like she got to choose Xander, and maybe she did.


	4. 004, Too Good to Be True, Em, Dalen

**004. Too Good to be True {Em/Dalen}**

Of course Em thinks Dalen is handsome when he stands up somewhere far away, another Province, and smiles at her over the screen that connects their Banquets.

_But_, she thinks bitterly, a nasty little voice in the back of her head, _he probably thinks she's lovely, too_. He probably thinks she must be this lovely every day, like she is in that pale yellow dress with a gold compact clutched in her palm.

And she doesn't think she is.

It occurs to Em for the first time that maybe there's a cruel reason they can dress up for their Banquets.


	5. 005, Rescue Me, Grandfather, Grandmother

**005. Rescue Me {Grandfather/Grandmother}**

He was an angry young man when The Society stripped him of his knowledge – he knew once how to program computers and roast a chicken and make cairns on the hills and _write love letters to her_, that girl in his class whose hair caught the light just so when she turned to collect her things before the bell.

And she herself caught the light and kept it for him, in carefully folded papers that she hid for him to find.

_Light breaks where no sun shines;  
Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart  
Push in their tides._


	6. 006, Apology, Official, Ky

**006. Apology{Official+Ky}**

He had one request.

He wanted his Match to be Cassia Reyes.

Jealousy prickled through her when he whispered the name in her ear, because it meant that he'd considered all of his options and had made this choice – he _wanted_ Cassia Maria Reyes, and that spark, that spirit, that _freedom_ hurt.

"And what if someone else is your Match?" she asked, "There's a statistical improbability that your best Match is the person you most desire."

And Ky Markham had smiled at her, all dashing dark hair and colorless eyes, and said, "There's a reason I'm an Aberration, isn't there?"


	7. 007, I Didn't Expect That, Em, Piper

**007. "I Didn't Expect That!" {Em/Piper}**

"I just thought," Piper said softly, "That maybe I could remain a Single anyway. There wouldn't be a Match for me, and I could just – "

She rested her head against Em's shoulder despairingly, wishing – not for the first time – that people were allowed into one another's homes; anywhere private would be better for such conversations than the gardens, where anyone could overhear.

"It doesn't work that way, does it?" asked Em hollowly. "I thought that at least when Xander was Matched, I would never have to see him so… happy… with some lucky girl. But of course it's Cassia."


	8. 008, Thoughtful, Norah, Cassia

**008. Thoughtful {Norah+Cassia}**

Norah was a prime Sorter. She noticed all the little details that almost anyone else would miss, but she never dwelled on them or questioned their meaning. She never asked just exactly what the numbers on her screen correlated or where Nutrition Disposal workers went once she placed them. She could see patterns in both numbers rows early, and she could spot patterns in behavior weeks before they'd manifested, making her a prime Official. She noticed, placed, and moved on.

Cassia Maria Reyes unnerved Norah. The things she noticed, she couldn't place, and until she placed, she couldn't move on.


	9. 009, Snow, Lea, Piper

**009. Snow {Lea/Piper}**

When the cottonwood trees flowered all over Mapletree Borough and distracted everyone on the train, Lea Abbey took what would be her only chance. She leaned across the seat and put her hand over Piper's knee, brown plainclothes warm and soft under her fingers, and Piper looked up at her, beautiful haunted questions in her eyes.

Lea cupped her other hand over Piper's cheek and kissed her softly, knowing it would be the only time. Both were Matched. Both would leave Mapletree Borough and the Glorious Oria Province behind them.

"Weed trees," someone said, and the two girls sprang apart.


	10. 010, Play to Win, Xander, Ky

**010. Play to Win {Xander/Ky}**

There's something to be said for playing an opponent who has taken the red pill right alongside you and come out on the other side.

It means they can remember.

When they play River, Xander remembers exactly which cards have been drawn and what that means Ky has in his hand and that, in turn, tells him just what his probabilities are if he plays on the River.

Ky knows that. And knows what cards Xander is holding, too.

Playing someone who's taken the red pill means that they're just the right amount conniving.

Mostly, Ky and Xander play Check.


	11. 011, HeavenSent, Cassia, Ky

**011. Are You Really Heaven-Sent? {Cassia/Ky}**

She told him she was thinking of angels at her Match ceremony, but Ky wondered whether Cassia really knew. In the Outer Provinces, the angels weren't just paintings to be memorized; no, they had names – Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Zarachiel – and stories: some great, some terrible. There was the angel who appeared to the shepherds and told them that a baby was born, and the angel who wrestled a man for the right to return to his family. There were the angels who appeared to warn you of your death, and the angels that the good became when they died.


	12. 012, Oblivious, Ky, Livy

**012. Oblivious {Ky/Livy}**

"What were you doing with Cassia last week?"

Ky stiffened and turned. A girl with long blonde plaits stood at the top of the hill, hands on her knees as she caught her breath.

So. The statistics had changed. Cassia was only the third-fastest now.

"I don't know what you mean," Ky said, a friendly smile in his voice. "We were hiking, same as everyone else."

"No," Livy said. "You had your arm around her and you were moving a stick around in the dirt."

Ky laughed easily. "Oh, that. I was just showing Cassia how to draw the trees."


	13. 013, Hope, Patrick, Aida

**013. Hope {Patrick/Aida}**

First came the crush of heartbreak, the kind that never heals. A parent should never outlive their child. In The Society, no parent does.

Except for Patrick and Aida Markham.

Then came the eruption of anger, the kind that kills slowly. The kind that is contagious, and that in The Society, must be quashed quickly.

Patrick Markham whispered to his neighbors about how an Official suggested his son visit him that day.

Everyone had to take the red pill.

But then came the news that Aida had a nephew, and he would be allowed to come live at Stony Borough.


	14. 014, Why Bother, Em, Cassia

**014. Why Bother? {Em+Cassia}**

"Xander looks so handsome with that haircut, doesn't he?" asked Cassia, giggling, with her hand around Em's ear. They were still in First School, but in their last year, and mimicking the Second School girls and boys was all the rage in their class. Who looked handsome? Who looked pretty? Had Boy A and Girl B really held hands at the gardens?

Em looked over at Xander. He was staring right back at Cassia, a little smile playing across his lips.

"So what if he does?" Em asked, her heart tight. "He'll be Matched with someone else in the end."


	15. 015, Never Forever, Xander, Cassia, Ky

**015. Never, Forever{Xander/Cassia/Ky}**

How much easier it would be if a person could have two Matches.

She could have Xander for the daytime; for happy times, for social times, for fun and going out and laughing and games and planting flowers. She could have Xander for eating ice cream and needing comfort.

She could have Ky at night. For quiet times, for thoughtful times, for the dark and silent woods and learning new things and for loving someone so hard it hurt a little, deep in her chest. She could have Ky for kissing in the dark and quiet, and to be brave.


End file.
